#noyublog

[fates-end-does-vns]

Nogi Wakaba is a Hero: 1/2

that's a familiar looking face. sister or ancestor? sister or ancestor? 

that's a pretty karinish face there 

Second hero diary? What was the first?

>Nogi Sonoko joined the Sanshu Middle School Hero Club.

Starting in the present, I see.

>The Nogi Household's rose bath was like a hot spring.

ahh, wait, that illustration is for this scene isn't it yeah, now I see the black eyes instead of purple

>"That's a cute reaction~ I'm sure the readers would love a character like you~ my creative urges are rising~"

sononononono, don't break the fourth wall

unless you're making fanficion of your friends like fiw twilight, in which case I implore you to reconsider.

>"Yeah, that combination does sound like it could work. So next, how about Nogi?"

do not give sonoka a position of authority outside of combat. it will not end well.

>But yeah, right now, I think that out of all four candidates, I'd recommend Karin as club president. It'll probably be hard for her, but she is the 'perfect hero' after all, so I'm sure she can manage somehow."

ah right karin's more mellowed out now.

>"Okay, I'll read your fortune! ...Okay, I've got the results. This looks like it'll be a good romance!"

show me how you fucked up the tarot itsuki. I won't get too mad.

>"Well~ I'm not sure what I like exactly, but someone who's diligent and takes good care of others would be lovely~. It'd be even more fun if they were way too serious and got reckless from time to time, huh~"

sonogo you're just describing togou

>I wanted some material for my novels, so I asked for some history books to sent in from my family house's archive, and they sent me a huuuumongous amount of them.

HISTORY BOOKS GOTTEM

>"Books that escaped censorship... Those exist?"

fffucking taisha

burnin books too

>It was the same title as the diary Sonoko had recorded when she was worshiped, the Hero Diary.

ahhh so hero diaries are what the taisha make heroes write after they've reached their expiration dates

>It says the diary began to be recorded in July 2015.

so the treepocalypse happened in Next Sunday AD.

>"Nogi... Wakaba... Is she my ancestor~? If she wrote this diary, then does that mean my ancestor was a hero?"

caaaallllled iiiiiiit

y'alright there yuuna

(Prologue: End)

apocalypse magical girls from the far off future of 2018

what the fuck yuuna's is yuuna a time traveller a reincarnatee a cryogenically frozen supersoldier from the distant past

or is this just a coincidence

>Nogi Wakaba, a fifth grader at the time 

>a fifth grader at the time 

>fifth grader at the time 

>fifth grader 

are you fucking kidding me 

that was a joke

so nogi wakaba is basically blond sumi right 

why do these ten year olds have boobs

>One of the star-like objects fell onto the roof of the kagura-den. It was definitely not a bird at all. Its entire body was an almost unnatural white, its size far more gigantic than a human, with an ominous mouth-like organ.

and here's the vertices

>On unsteady feet, Hinata stood up. A strange light imbued her eyes and hex-like words leaked from her mouth.

ahh hinata's got the old possession style sayakafication fairies

I see they're taking the opportunity to do what they can't show on television.

>When she snapped back to her senses, Wakaba was standing up with that very sword in hand. She could've sworn the blade was rusted, but before she  had realised it, the blade was tinged with a vibrant, almost living brilliance.

we sure this is still the magical girl genre? this is giving me Eternity Sword vibes more than anything

>Some changed into a form like the edge of a section of body tissue, stiffening and rising up. (...They're... evolving...?)

that's not how evolution works.

>Three years later-- Nogi Wakaba was now a second year in middle school.

not expecting a time skip of all things. I'll be honest, I was enjoying the hellhole thing.

>Uesato Hinata is a Miko, one who hears divine voices.

miko, huh? interesting.

chapter 1 end.

the fuck is a doi

>After the invasion, a special tree by the name of "Shinju" appeared in Shikoku, and a giant wall made of plant tissue surrounded the island. It is said that the Shinju was the incarnation of the local gods, and the wall was a barrier it put up to stop the Vertex.

"appeared", "it was said". hm, hm, hm~♪

>"Uranophobia."

pff, uranus. but apparently it's "fear of heaven"

>Although it said "hearing the voice of the gods," it was not through common speech, but rather in the form of symbols and suggestive hints that instructions were transmitted to her.

symbols and suggestive hints, huh... so basically it's a horoscope.

>Only the purest of girls

"purest of girls"? what the hell does that even mean in this case

> are able to come in contact with the gods who detest impurity.

oh, the gods are fucking Lunarians.

>An area of the southeastern part of Lake Suwa in Nagano was, like Shikoku, also protected by a barrier where people could live.

...Another barrier? A second tree, or???

noodle discourse

>It let her feel safe knowing there was a friend out there fighting as well.

she's gon die isn't she

oh fuck I'm going to need to memorize at least five sets of speech patterns aren't I

>"I'm not fondling them! I'm trying to tear them off!"

i see hinata has more in common with togou than her hair color

this'll be a joy to get straight 

we even have multiple soft-spoken girls with long black hair 

interesting to note that yuuna's not pictured yet.

>Normal weapons were useless against the Vertex, only those that the Heroes wielded could inflict damage upon them.

so do the weapons have fairies in them or what

>"Taisha" was written with the characters for "Great Shrine," wait a fucking second is this a different organization

yeah yuuna's a time traveller.

chapter 2 end

guess blossoming is already a thing

for some strange reason I feel like wakaba's the only character who matters here.

>And yet Yuuna was less concerned about herself, and more concerned with Chikage who hadn't participated in the battle at all.

yuuna being yuuna

>The next moment, the cylindrical Vertex began forming a clear red plate-shaped structure.

cancer?

>Out of the infinite records available to her, the one Yuuna now chose was "Ichimokuren".

wait, so yuuna's choosing her fairy?

and stuffing it in herself, which is bad.

>Wakaba had dodged the Vertex's charge with the least necessary movement, and at the same time, she bit off part of the enemy's body with her teeth.

don't bite the alien wakaba

>"Wakaba-chan! You can't go eating weird things like that, okay!?"

pff.

chapter 3 end

so is she referring to actual blossoming here or what

>A foul smell hit her the moment she stepped inside.

welp

chikage's in a bad place

chikage's in a really bad place

>They both cursed her existence.

yikes

>Those who had hurt her once were now trying to get on her good side.

garbage people, the lot of them

>(My worth... is in being a hero...)

oh no this won't end well

>It allowed her to exist in seven different places at once. She wouldn't die unless all seven were killed at the same time.

and this is even one of the fairies mentioned in that report.

chapter 4 end

??? I don't get it

oh hey gemini

>"I see! So then maybe we can use the udon as a diversion if it reacts to it!" there is absolutely no way this will work.

>untamarable what kind of pun is that

chapter 5 end

wait a second is that part talking about udon did they censor udon and intelligent? why the hell would the taisha censor information about instant noodles 

>The one who saved her was Yuuna. She suddenly appeared in the midst of the swarm and started holding them off instead of Wakaba. are you sure yuuna's not the protagonist here

so to temporarily stop the vertexes the taisha allegedly went aztec on what were allegedly six mikos those wouldn't happen to actually be these six characters somehow, would they? and I guess Yuuna would be a zombie...?

end of chapter 6

so apparently the divine tree is blaming humans too? fuck that tree.

guess hinata's hair is purple now.

>"...Her consciousness still hasn't returned." so are comas normal for yuuna

this group is a lot less stable than the other ones.

>Now that it had been denied... just how should she fight from now on?

wakaba freaking out about her girlfriend leaving is cute

ah, anzu's trying to cheer her up by point out how many people she’s been helping.

>(But now... I have to get over it.) :V guess the therapists all got eaten

and Chapter 7 ends with another timeskip.

>And perhaps they would keep on changing. *glances at gin's funeral*

>Aki Masuzu clamoured in misery as she changed clothes. oh boy another new character

>However, all communications with Suwa had ceased after last September.

and another tree circle is confirmed just to be killed off lemme guess, they'll disappear one by one until shikoku's all that's left?

>Finally, the Shinju appeared at the end of the path. hup

even in a light novel, the tree isn't described

>Several of the small stars combined into a brilliance unlike anything I've ever seen... leo again?

>There are two kinds of honetsukidori. Chick uses spring chickens while hen uses more mature chicken meat. Chick is more plump, tender, and easier to eat, while hen has a deeper flavour that oozes out the more you chew on its tougher meat. stop it, you're making me hungry

>All Yuuna was doing was cheerfully humming as she cleaned Wakaba's ears-- but not even Hinata was a match for a technique like that. even in other characters' stories, yuuna reigns supreme

>The fierce battle foretold in the oracle in the midst of the war of humanity's last stand would later be called the Battle of Marugame Castle. Oh, so we're getting into a fight that's actually important?

[End of chapter 8]

hmm. you know what, there's only so long you can string me along with splotches of whiteout before I get desensitized to it.

>Would they just blindly increase in size, or would they guide their evolution into an intentional form? The latter.

>By that time, the black shadows wrapping around her foot had already disappeared. what the heck

>Suddenly, Tamako collapsed to her knees. really shouldn'tve tempted fate back there.

>The fairy she had extracted from the Shinju was Minamoto no Yoshitsune, a general with superhuman martial arts thought it was a divine tree, not a throne of heroes.

end of chapter 9.

So are they going on a "trip" outside the wall? Wonder if it's as much of a primordial hellscape as it is in present times...

>Many buildings had been blown out from the inside as if a chemical explosion had occurred within, and traces of heat-deformation could be seen. That's the first unpleasant thing they saw? Guess the vertexes haven't done... whatever to destroy the atmosphere yet.

>For dinner, they were boiling water in a pot to cook some udon they had brought from Shikoku. It was a dry-noodle kind of Sanuki udon that kept well. of course they're eating udon.

>After dinner, everyone went into the river to wash off their sweat. oh boy another fanservice scene bet there's a cg for this too yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

>"If I become a hero and do my best fighting the Vertexes, I can save people. If we keep saving people, then we can slowly but surely take back the world and bring it back to normal. At least that's what I think!" Yuuki Yuuna is a Hero, after all.

>After the heroes had annihilated the Vertexes, they decided to resume moving for the day. even the story is getting bored.

>"Th... there was supposed to be an Osaka-famous rare book store here! How terrible! The last copies of incredibly precious books could be lost to the world now!" all that devestation, and that's what makes you freak out?

>Instead-- they found a heap of several skeletons. That's... odd. They haven't found any bodies so far, have they? I figured the Vertex don't leave anything behind.

>Wakaba noticed a notebook on the floor. She picked it up and looked inside. It was the diary of someone who took refuge in this underground mall.

oh are we going to read a diary in a diary?

chapter 10 end

[fates-end-does-vns]

Nogi Wakaba is a Hero: 2/2

Wͪ͂̃h̀̇ͬa͌ͣ̽t̒͒̔ ͑ͬͧt͑͡͝h͋̔̌ę̷ͤ ͛͌ͩfͩ̉̚uͭ̏̂c͗̇͌k̓̔ͬ?ͪͫ̑ ?̨͚͢?̙̻̹?̺͜͜?̵̧҉̜̭͖?̵̥͡?̘̜͠

>She then silently placed her hands together while ruminating over the contents of the diary-- oh we really are going deeper

>A fight seems to break out among the underground mall dwellers just about every day. Oh, did they end up killing each other rather than the vertex?

>Since food is limited, some ruffians try to use violence to hoard it all to themselves. """ruffians"""???

>The corpses of the dead are gathered in a designated area. Leaving them where they died would be both a hygienic and mental nightmare, after all. Ahh, it's like I'm writing about corpses as inhuman objects, huh. Maybe my senses have started going crazy too. it's really starting to look like this, huh.

>An adult got irritated at her crying and told me to kill her or put her outside. yikes

>The people advocating leaving to the surface unilaterally destroyed a barricade. It's the same pattern as before. Nothing more can be done. I wasn't entirely right, but I was close.

>The area around the station and beyond was covered with countless giant egg-shaped objects. So the Vertexes are... breeding? Are we sure they aren't just aliens?

>Despite Tamako's in-the-moment personality, she too knew full well the risk of using trump cards. Looks like Tamako might be where they got that data on fairy possession from.

>What came out was... a hoe. And a folded letter. Another apocalyptic log, huh?

>--Shikoku was at risk of a crisis once more. oh boy my favorite

chapter 11 end

Oh, is this some sort of sidestory about dead girl?

>As Utano continued to work hard without ever losing hope, one by one, the residents began helping her. Some cultivated the fields with her. Others provided boats so they could fish in Lake Suwa.

something something Varda Rhaplanca.

>The guardian god of Suwa was a god of war, a princely god of the earth. It was said that this god once used a wisteria vine as a weapon in a battle against another god. Imbued with divine might, his wisteria vine was powerful enough to crush the opposing god's weapon of iron. oh hey it's kanako

>The whip that served as Utano's weapon was imbued with the same spiritual power as that god of war's wisteria vine. 

hmm...

Well, I guess they're both player 2...

>However, even heroes had their limits, and the waves of Vertexes kept growing in size. In response to the intensifying attacks, the local god had scaled the barrier down in size to scale it up in strength. Now in 2018, the harumiya and akimiya had already been destroyed and only the area to the southeast of Lake Suwa remained protected by the barrier. froggod is getting tired, I guess.

>At times like these, Mito felt a feeling she couldn't quite describe. Her heart would stir, and she couldn't calm it.

man, they're not even trying to hide it anymore, huh.

>Both Utano and Mito could tell that the power of Suwa's local god was weakening.

>So Suwa was a decoy to let Shikoku prepare for battle. Utano and Mito had vaguely noticed that fact, so it was no surprise. Sacrifices, sacrifices, sacrifices. It's all about sacrifices, isn't it?

>"... The world? You mean the whole el mundo?!" >"Excelente!" why

end

>Thanks to the investigation of the heroes and miko, the Suwa area was confirmed to be safe. propaganda, propaganda, propaganda.

the problem with lying so hard about everything is that eventually people are going to figure out the truth and it's going to be worse than if you'd just been honest.

>It's just... ever since I used the fairy's power during the expedition, I guess? My body's been feeling kind of funny... looks like I was right

>Despite having that discussion, since the battle royale would be for practice, they obtained permission from the teachers and the event was settled. I guess this might turn out interesting?

>Hinata looked at the smartphone she held in her hand. On the screen was a picture of Wakaba doing combat training during lessons yesterday. Normally during hero training sessions, Hinata would undergo miko training in another room, and thus she had no opportunities to take pictures of Wakaba training... ah, bribery.

>Instead, it slammed into Tamako's forehead. I was wondering how the two of them were going to settle it.

>"W-Wakaba-kun... I'm sorry, but there's someone else that Tama likes..." oh no she's FiW twilight

>Wakaba and Yuuna were wearing male uniforms. you know what I would actually like to see this.

good. not as good as I imagined, but good.

>"No, your movements were clearly weaker compared to when you fight against Vertexes." yuuna's protagonist power still shines through

>The next Vertex invasion had yet to happen. in anything else that line would be ominous but you've ended at least like four fucking chapters with "oh no big vertex invasion incoming".

chapter 12 end.

despair? grief? lactic acid?

>Supernatural phenomena like seances and spirit possession have existed in human culture from time immemorial. Shamans. Blind spirit mediums. Animists. Polytheists. Such practitioners would evoke the inhuman into their own bodies. >Polytheists. 

 excuse me? 

 >In the classroom the next day, Tamako and Anzu discussed holding a flower viewing party with the others. 

does this book actually have a plot

>"Okay, then once our next Vertex battle's over, let's go flower viewing to celebrate! I suddenly feel pumped up!" tempting fate.

>For flowers' lives were short. tempting fate.

>If any evolved Vertexes were to appear, Tamako would surely use the power of the fairies to fight it. I like that she's thinking this stuff through. Too bad it won't help.

>"I think it's more like a scorpion... Takashima-san..." Scorpio?

>At that signal, the other girls began activating trump cards one by one. welp

>In other words, this scorpion-type Vertex had more stamina than all of the heroes currently had the power to combat. Huh. That's unexpected. What else can they do, blossom?

>The needle then skewered Anzu behind her as well. They're just both going to die then? Or are they going to pull something out at the last minute? They were really telegraphing Tamako being the first person to show the symptoms of possession.

>What came out of Tamako's mouth the next moment wasn't a voice, but copious volumes of blood. And not just from her mouth, but from her eyes, ears, and nose. Blood spilled. Perhaps due to the poison, she experienced bizarre symptoms that could not be explained by the stab wound alone. that went from realistically dark to silly in two seconds flat.

>A fairy particularly feared by the Taisha, and thus a fairy the heroes were strictly ordered never to use-- Yuuna would now unleash that fairy's power. of course yuuna would

chaper 13 end.

another blank chapter start. joy.

she punchch

>After sweeping way the Vertexes, Yuuna had lost consciousness and even now had yet to recover. sounds familiar

eyyyy it's leo

>But Yuuna's face twisted in agony. The smooth transformation that normally came with using a trump card was nowhere to be seen. this is a reaaaaly bad idea

>Wakaba and Chikage were unable to do any damage to the giant Vertex, and Yuuna, the only one with any means of effective attack was out of commission. for the first time, they're on the retreat.

>Within Chikage's eyes ignited the dark light of hatred. I mean, she wasn't exactly stable to begin with, but I don't think the fairy thing helped.

chapter 14 end.

Is it all just whiteout now?

So it looks a lot like she's crazy and on the side of the vertexes here.

>However-- voices of anxiety cried up throughout the population. Crime and suicides rose. Public order was collapsing. Wouldn't be as bad if you guys had been honest in the first place.

>Chikage suddenly heard a voice by her ear. She looked up in surprise. That the fairy?

>After leaving her house, Chikage unsheathed her scythe and walked down the road. there we go

>So why must they criticise us...?! If this is what it all comes down to... then there's no point in fighting, no point in protecting people...! None at all! how very Live-a-Live

>To be suspended and have her hero system revoked. So now there's only two heroes left and only one of them can fight, huh?

Chapter 15 end.

>"In about a month and a half, we will reach the fourth anniversary of the tragic 7/30 disaster." A big speech, huh?

>Wakaba had been popular with the people of Shikoku, almost to the point of worship. The crowd listened so intently, they forgot to blink. Well, they haven't lost their faith in her, at least.

>Wakaba wrote a rough draft for the speech, but the content was entirely rewritten by the Taisha. Figured.

>The Koori family was granted a house in Marugame where Chikage lived with her mother and father. That sounds like an awful idea.

>"...I've lost... everything... Everything... was stolen from me..." This is all really uncomfortable to read.

>Chikage took out her phone and began typing out a message to the Taisha: If they believe this, they're idiots.

>The Taisha had fast-tracked Chikage's reinstatement due to the danger of having Wakaba fight alone. ugh.

>And the next moment, seven Chikages appeared, surrounding Wakaba. yeesh. I can't really see a way for this novel to end that isn't awful. This is a really hopeless story/

>But immediately, her hero outfit itself disappeared, leaving Chikage standing in the Jukai in her school uniform. Divine intervention?

>In Wakaba's place, Chikage became Vertex food. Yikes. I guess that's one way to clean up a loose end.

>Chikage smiled and closed her eyes as if to sleep. Okay, this one kind of got me, not gonna lie. Chikage's situation was awful from start to end.

Chapter 16 end

>She could hear Yuuna sobbing from across the other side. welcome to the suffering show

>The Taisha would not tell them when the funeral service was to be held, nor what sort of service it was to be, leaving the others unable to even mourn for her. trust the government to be bastards.

>"Those ones have pictures of all of us." oh goddamnit it's one of these :(

>"Wh-what?! What on earth is this majesty?! It's a tamashock! This flavour is a 30 kilotamashock!'" fucking udon

>"...It's the diploma we all gave Gun-chan together..." fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck

>"Koori Chikage was a genuine hero!!" fuuuuuck it took a while for this story to move me but god damn it

>Only two heroes remained. and there's the traditional "things are gonna get bad" marker.

end of chapter 17.

Descended from humans?

>But according to the Taisha, as long as humanity could overcome this next attack, they would be able to prepare two countermeasures to keep the enemy invasion in check. Which of these countermeasures involves murder?

>The will of the Shinju-sama aside, I would prefer that forced cancellation not occur. I implore you to put your trust in us.-- Her request was accepted and the hero system was updated. Guess that's why Tougou was able to do what she did.

>It was Yuuna. She took one look at Wakaba and Hinata and froze for just a second before beginning to gently close the door. Wawawa wasuremono~

>Wakaba wore a baseball cap and jeans, accessorised with oversized sunglasses covering her eyes, a large surgical mask enveloping her mouth, and her sword in hand. where's that picture with sonoko

>Yuuna smiled and spoke somewhat nervously, as if introducing herself for the first time. You know I think this is the first time we've seen Yuuna really talk about herself. In any time.

>Her vision grew dark. I guess that goes to show just how much weaker they are than the modern heroes, that that was all it took.

>She had only lost consciousness for a fleeting moment. Yuuna isn't like the others, after all.

>(Shinju... sama...? Am I... going inside... the Shinju-sama...?) I'm guessing that's why she's still around, somehow.

Chapter 18 end.

divine era, huh.

>But I'm sure the three of us can go there someday. now, though, there's only two.

>"Huh... n-no... no... Everyone... died...? No heroes survived... except... for me..." bring on the despair.

>In addition to the colossal Vertex, there were also several developing large Vertexes scattered around here and there. Large Vertexes identical in appearance to ones defeated in the past were reemerging as well. welp.

>Wakaba and Hinata couldn't tell what it was, but there was something inside those hollow shells... oh right, the, whatchamacallit, the souls.

>The heavens-- were falling-- guess that's the world ending right there.

>"Any possibility of a comeback for humanity... has been crushed, hasn't it..." yeah basically. say what you will about madoka, but this permanent status quo might be even less hopefull than it.

>"This was our first attempt, but it was a success. We have named this divine ritual the offering fire festival." oh wait is hinata going to be one of the girls sacrificed?

>"The Taisha held a festival. Outside the wall... They spoke to the heavens and prayed, asking for amnesty from invasions on the condition that we no longer leave this land." so is the reason the Vertexes started attacking again in the present because someone broke the deal?

>"But I played my cards right and excluded myself from the selection. I didn't want to die. I'm such an unfair, cruel woman." oh. well, at least wakaba won't be alone.

>If we remain in these lands and abandon our hero powers, we will no longer be attacked." or maybe that's the part of the deal that was broken. there's still the fact of the people who were divinely empowered to do terrorism, though...

>"Indeed. Despite how I might look, I am angry. Let's make sure we recover. Once we lose the Shinju-sama, we lose Shikoku as well, but the Shinju-sama should have a lifetime of hundreds of years. Let's use that time to find a counter strategy." so how's it still around and fine after 700 years?

>Lost lives do not come back. they do when they're yuuna, apparently.

>"First, we will rename the Taisha from 'grand shrine' to 'amnesty' as a self-conscious reminder that we have been granted amnesty and live modestly as human beings." so it is the same organization.

>We'll just bide time and wait until then. apparently you didn't wait long enough.

>The last survivor of the Vertex invasion dies of old age. That's... not very old.

>reverse clapping ?????

>are given the name "Yuuna" by the Taisha in reverence to the legendary hero Takashima Yuuna. Yeah, I'm not buying that. This Yuuna and that Yuuna are waaaaaay too similar. And the weird way Yuuna's been acting? Nah, they're the same person.

Chapter 19 end.

>And I'm not just talking about simple firepower enhancements here. I'm talking about adding mental health support systems, too. I don't think it's that easy.

>"That's right. But if we used artificial... that is, pseudo-fairies, there'd be no harm done, don't you think?" How would that even work?

>Hinata felt as if she could still hear voices like that. gah don't do that

>"Yeah. We'll be together forever. Even after we graduate. Even after we grow up. Even after we're old ladies, we'll be together." gaaay~

>"I've lost so many precious friends myself. So please, don't make your precious ones go through the same thing I did. Swear to me-- swear to them-- that you'll make it back--" arrrgh not a gain this story is so depressing

>"That Hero Record was censored in black, but there were also red censors, too. So it was probably censored twice. And the second round of censorship... erased almost all of it." graaah so they probably don't know most of the stuff in the story

>But nothing lasted forever. As generations begot generations, as time passed by, change happened. and ultimately, their attempts to keep the Taisha free from corruption were in vain, huh.

epilogue? end.

oh hey.

chikage's name's censored everywhere it appears...

yuuna's eager to use the fairy she's been explicitly told not to use.

and anything written by chikage's gone too...

:(

And this was completely wiped away...

Nogi Wakaba is a Hero: End.

[fates-end-does-vns]

Nogi Wakaba is a Hero: Thoughts

Nogi Wakaba is a Hero, huh...?

I’m sorry to say, but I didn’t like it very much.

Well, correction. I didn’t like the first 16 chapters that much. Chapter 17 onward was pretty good, but up until that point it felt like a chore. A few things come together to leave me with that. The oft confusing, dialogue, avoiding character identifiers like the plague. The endless loop of antics to The Worst Vertex Attack Ever Again and back. The general way the story was written. All of them came together to make a book I really didn’t want to keep reading.

As for the parts I like? Well, those have a taste of their own. NoWaYu is a relentlessly hopeless book. The characters start out in a bad way and not many of them even make it through. Even at the end, when they try to leave it with some hope, those things are undermined. Wakaba and Hinata ultimately failed to keep the Taisha free of corruption. Rather than using the Hero System to take back the world, the truce has been broken and even now the heroes are just barely managing to keep the status quo against the vertex attacks. Even Wakaba’s final message of hope was scrubbed from the pages of her diary, lost to time. Ultimately... I’ve read and played works that touched hard on the tone and plot of what NoWaYu set out to do, and they managed to do it in more enjoyable ways that left me with less of a bitter taste afterwards.